This year I have decided to spread out my pruning. I decided that I don’t need to do it all on one day.

I started with the easiest bushes to prune. These two rose bushes are about 20 years old now and are nearing the end of their life. They are also in an area that doesn’t get much sun. They were initially planted in a sunny spot, but now a large tree shades them in the afternoon.

It only took a few minutes to prune these on Saturday. Later I will clean up the area around the base of the bushes, or perhaps just let the grass continue to grow around them, I haven’t decided yet.

Behind my  larges rose bushes there is an area where I have a bunch of volunteer rose bushes. I usually let them grow through the year even though none of them have put out any blooms.

I cut these back almost to ground level. While they are cut back I need to remove some of the old ground cloth. Or at least cut back the part that shows.

Today I cut back the large bush I have in the backyard. This one is also a volunteer. It only has small roses and doesn’t continuously bloom all year. I am trying to train this one so that it doesn’t spill over the fence into the neighboring yards.

Tomorrow I will do some more pruning on the larger rose bushes. But, it is so hard to get started as they still have roses blooming. I guess I will bring the blooms inside and enjoy them for awhile. I know that the sooner I prune them the sooner I will have blooms again, so must just get them done.

Since tomorrow is a holiday, it will be a good day for yard work.

Steven